Attending: Ben Allen, Ed Anapol, Landen Bain, Pakis Bessias, Dick Danner, Alan Halachmi, Molly Tamarkin (for Patrick Halpin), Alfred Trozzo (for Paul Harrod), Donna Hewitt, David Jamieson-Drake, Ken Knoerr, Betty Leydon, Roger Loyd, Melissa Mills, Caroline Nisbet, George Oberlander, Mike Pickett, Rafael Rodriguez, Jeffrey Taekman, Robert Wolpert. GUESTS: Bob Currier, Chris Cramer, Ginny Cake, Steve Woody.

Review of Minutes and Announcements:

  • Princeton named Betty Leydon vice president for information technology
  • Betty Leydon explained why she chose to accept the position.
  • People can contact her about her current projects. She will give them the status and a contact person for the project.
  • The minutes of the previous meeting accepted.

    Betty Leydon Departure Announcement and discussion.

    Dick Danner - talked about the proposed plan for the modem pool. Ginny Cake said this summer they are going to test authorization and time out software.

Voice Over IP

Mike Pickett stated that there would be a three-month trial of Voice Over IP. Cisco telephones will be place side by side with existing phones so people will be able to evaluate the new phones. Duke is looking for a partner to install and configure the phones. The Cisco phones will be supported by ECI and OIT.

Duke campus and Duke Health system are interested in Voice Over IP.

Duke Student Government (DSG) issues and student government computing update.

  • A discussion with the Provost resolved the concern.
  • This has been resolved.
  • This has been resolved by regular cleaning of the computer systems in the clusters.
  • There has been some progress in improving the menu system.
  • Duke personnel are planning to set the phone system so the student will still be able to dial 911.

  • Alan Halachmi updated ITAC with the students concerns and those that have been resolved.

    Not many issues in undergraduate computing.

    The students think that Office of Information Technology (OIT) help desk support, phone and walk-in, is impressive.

    CONCERN: With Goal 6 of the Strategic Plan. Duke University possibly requiring students to have laptops.

    CONCERN: Students were complaining about the temperature of the computer clusters.

    CONCERN: Smudge marks being on computer screens in the computer clusters.

    CONCERN: There is still a concern with the shared telephone voice mail menus in the student rooms.

    CONCERN: There is a public safety concern with the student's phones being shut off when the student does not pay the phone bill.

    CONCERN: Poor reception on some of the channels on the Duke cable system.

    CONCERN: DSG are also trying to convince Duke to include phone service in the cost of student housing.

Wireless networking policy and best practices.

The Wireless Networking Policy Draft was given to the group. Mike Pickett summarized the Wireless Networking Policy Draft.

The health system has had success using wireless technology. Whatever wireless system is use on campus will meet HIPAA requirements and still allow people to use this technology as they move around campus. The group discussed the need for notifying a central coordinating unit (Enterprise Communications Infrastructure group) when planning and installing wireless systems.

Future forums - Robert Currier will discuss wireless technology along with local implementation, local interference etc. He plans to hold group discussions. He will have people at the forum that have experience with wireless technology.

The draft of Proposed Wireless Networking Best Practices dated 3/21/2001 was given to the group.

Bob Currier asked the group to give the draft some thought. The group discussed notifying a central coordinating unit when planning and installing wireless systems. They spoke about the need to register new and planned wireless systems to make sure that there is no frequency interference between wireless systems.

Network Adversity Committee met 4 or 5 months ago. There is a need to review the people on the committee to ensure they represent the whole Duke community.

Many types of equipment generate radio frequencies. People may not know that they are using machines that produce radio frequencies. These machines may cause interference.

There are various options to prevent interference. Shielding the equipment is one option

Rafael Rodriguez said that Duke has to be careful with radio frequencies.

George Oberlander stated that a frequency audits can be done at various points at Duke.

Blackboard Update

  1. Security. Blackboard will add hooks for security. Blackboard will allow Duke to add security to the current two-year pilot.
  2. Distributed administration. Enterprise system of Blackboard will have to be purchased.
  3. AIX platform. Currently blackboard has no plans to AIX.

  • Duke is negotiation with the company that makes Blackboard. There are several issues that are under discussion.

    The faculty has been advised and reminded that Blackboard is not a secure system.

    There is demo of another function of Blackboard occurring on campus and people involved will make a report to ITAC.

    David Jamieson-Drake asked about electronic submission of papers. It is done through a file system. There is a security concern about virus macros being attached to the papers.

    Duke is currently at the end of two-year pilot program. The company will allow the Blackboard pilot to be extended for the fall term of 2002 The group also discussed the usability of WEB CT and Blackboard. Duke personnel have also looked at a system being designed by MIT.

    Blackboard is following all industry standards. Mike Pickett wants feedback if anyone thinks they are going in the wrong directions.

    A Budget has not been approved for the staff and hardware needed to support whatever system is chosen.

    There is a concern that course web pages in Blackboard cannot be seen off campus without going through extra effort. The course web pages are an important marketing tool.

    There is a way to indicate which parts of the web pages can be displayed to the public. It has to be set up with a guest password. There was a discussion about displaying a page that has the guest password that tells the person wanting access about the need to type in to type in the password. There was a motion approved that Duke continue negotiation with the company that makes Blackboard.

    The meeting adjourned at 5:30 PM